BATON ROUGE -- Southeastern Conference and national Players of the Year, All-SEC selections, players who went on to great careers in professional sports, all help make up the all-decade teams for LSU men’s basketball from the 1940s through the 2000s as the Tigers complete their 100th basketball schedule at home against Alabama Wednesday night where the teams were announced.

Ten players were chosen from among thousands of votes cast by fans at LSUsports.net for players nominated in each decade (the 1940s through the 2000s) and the top 10 selections were chosen. The 1970s has an 11th selection because of a tie for the final choice. The early years of the LSU men’s basketball program, 1909 through 1939, will have a 10-player team selected by the members of the centennial committee later in the spring.

“Speaking for the centennial committee, we are very proud of the several thousands of fans who cast vote for one or all or the all-decade teams over the past six weeks,” said LSU Centennial Co-Chair Kent Lowe, the senior associates SID and basketball SID at LSU. “The voting for some of the final spots was so close and as you can see we had a tie for the final spot on the 1970s team. The committee felt that a tie should be treated as such and so we have 11 players on that decade team.

“Our research team is in the process of gathering the information that the committee will use to put together the early years’ teams that will encompass the years from 1909 (the date of the first recognized varsity intercollegiate game) to 1939 and there were some exceptional players that people may not these days be familiar with.”

Of course, highlighting the players on the decade teams announced were the three whose jerseys hang high over the Maravich Center  Bob Pettit (on the 1950s team), Pete Maravich (on the 1960s team) and Shaquille O’Neal (on the 2000’s team).

Frank Brian, this year’s “Living Legend” at the SEC Tournament in Atlanta next week representing LSU is a member of the 1940s decade team along with two players who would go on to have prominent careers in the major leagues  Joe Bill Adcock and Alvin Dark.

The 1950s featured LSU’s first Final Four team and Pettit, a Naismith Hall of Famer and an NBA legend, is joined by teammate Ned Clark who thanks to research by the NCAA shortly before the 2008 season was given his long missing freshman rebound total that moved him to fifth all-time at LSU with just under 1,000 boards.

The 1960’s team featured Dick Maile who was a first-team All-SEC selection in 1964 and 1965 along with of course, the amazing Maravich, also a Naismith Hall of Famer and the game’s all-time Division I scorer.

The 70’s decade saw the move from Coach Press Maravich and his players Bill Newton and Al “Little Apple” Sanders to the first group of stars who played for Dale Brown  Kenny Higgs, Eddie Palubinskas and DeWayne Scales.

In the 1980s, LSU had two NCAA Final Four teams which may have made this decade the most difficult to choose from but they certainly remembered the star status of players like Ricky Blanton, Durand “Rudy” Macklin, Don Redden and Jerry Reynolds in their selections. Of course, the 1990s team belonged to O’Neal and the amazing Chris Jackson along with high scoring Ronnie Henderson.

John Brady brought the Tigers two SEC titles and a Final Four appearance and the 2000s team reflects that with Players of the Year Brandon Bass, Glen Davis and Stromile Swift on the list along with the one player remaining with eligibility  Tasmin Mitchell.

All the members of the Decade teams along with the early years team that will be selected are eligible for the ballot for the LSU Basketball All-Century team. That voting will begin late in the summer and the team will be announced at basketball players reunion gala scheduled for Jan. 30, 2009. The Tigers will then play an SEC game in the Maravich Center on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009. There are also plans in the works for an alumni game of some shape to be played that same day.

The LSU Basketball All-Decade Teams (Players are listed under each decade alphabetically):